Seal-lock



(No Model.)

. 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. R. M. SULLY..

. SEAL LOCK.

No. 516,579. Patented Mar. 13, l1894.

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(No M0461.) `2 sheets-Sheen 2.

R. M.'SULLY.

' SEAL LUGK.

No. 516,579. Patented Mar. 13, 1894.

g @M d@ UNITED STATES ATENT otros@ ROBERT M. SULLY, OF PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA.

SEAL-LOC K.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 516,579, dated March 13, 1894.

Application filed November 6 1893. Serial No. 490,135. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, ROBERT M. SULLY, a citizen of theUnited States, residing at Petersburg, in the county of Dinwiddie and State of Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Seal-Locks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to seal locks for freight-cars, warehouses, and other inclosures, in which goods or valuables are placed either for transportation, or storage.

It is the purpose of my invention to provide a strong, simple, and easily operated device of the kind specified, which shall be capable of use with any ordinary shippingtag, without requiring a separate metallic, or other seal, but more particularly in conjunction with the tag for which Letters Patent of the United States were granted me upon the 14th day of June, 1887, No. 365,029.

The invention consists to these ends, in the novel features of construction and in the parts and combinations of parts-hereinafter fully described and then particularly pointed out and defined in the claims which conclude this specification.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention pertains to fully understand and to make, construct, and use the same, I will proceed to describe said invention in detail, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings in whichj Figure 1, is a front elevation showing the invention applied to a car-door, the parts being shown in the position they occupy when locked. Fig. 2, is a front elevation showing the same parts in the position they occupy .when unlocked. Fig. 3, is a central, longitudinal section of the parts when arranged as shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 4, is a similar section showing the same parts in the position illustrated in Fig. 2. Fig. 5, is a detail view of the locking pin detached. Fig. 6, is a detail view showing one form of shipping tag used in connection with my invention. Figs.

7, 8 and 9 are sectional views, showing a preferred construction of the parts, whereby the lockingpin is automatically projected by merely turning the bolt upon, and with, said p In the said drawings the reference numeral 1, indicates the base plate of the lock, which is of any suitable form, its ends being provided with openings to receive bolts 2, by which it is secured to the door-frame of the car, or other structure.

Projecting from the base-plate l, at or near The outer face of the locking bolt is counterf sunk, or removed, to form depressed faces 9, upon both sides of the lslot 7, and at the end of said slot most remote from the enlarged opening 8, a countersunk recess or depressed portion lO is formed,lying substantially in line with the slot 7. The slide-plate 6, rests upon the at outer face of va boss 12, which forms part of the base-plate 1. In Athis boss is formed a circular opening which receives a locking-pin 13, the body-portion of whichy is so formed as to fill the opening in th'Qz boss 12, but have free movement therein, v its 'I `8o what beyond the rear face of the base-plate,.4

length being such that it will project 'some1 The outer end of the locking-pin isprovided with a head 14 of somewhat greaterfdiame"-l ter than the body of the pin andprojecting upon one side thereof in the longitudinalline of the base-plate and toward that end of the latter which is farthest from the staple 3. Immediately beneath the head 14' the body of the pin is tiled, or cut away, together with a portion of the head, upon each side, thereby forming a flattened portion 15, of such thickness that the slide-plate 6, may move freely thereon, the width of the flattened portion being somewhat greater than the maximum thickness of said slide-plate, in order that the locking-pin 13 may have a certain degree of movement in the line of its axis, this movement being limited by a cross-pin 16, inserted through the end of the pin which projects in rear of the base-plate l. In the body portion of the locking-pin, beneath the extended part of the head 14, is formed a notch 17, so arranged that when the locking- ICO pin is moved so as to bring the attened portion 15, against, or quite close to, the boss 12, said notch will be engaged by a spring-projected detent, or bolt 18, which lies in a suitable recess in the boss 12 and is thrown into the notch 17, by a spring 19. The lockingbolt 5, is preferably, thoughnot necessarily, cylindrical in form, and of such length that, when moved to the limit of the slot 7, in one direction, its end will project beyond the staple 3; Whereas, when moved to its limit in the opposite direction, it will be wholly withdrawn from engagement with said staple. In the bolt 5 is formed a slot 20, lying either in, or parallel with the line of the axis. From the cylindrical face of the bolt a second slot 21, is cut into the slot 20, entering the latter at a point between its ends. The slot 21 `is preferably formed at an acute angle with the slot 20, the opening of the angle being next to the free end of the locking-bolt 5,*the purpose being to facilitate the introduction of a shipping-tag within the slot 20, in the manner shown in Fig. 1. "The manner ofusingthe seal-lock is as follaws'r-lThe locking-bolt 5, being withdrawn from the staple 3, the hasp en the door is placed over said staple and the locking-bolt is again inserted in the latter and projected until the flattened end 15 of the head le of the locking-pin 13 lies in the recess, or depression 10, at the end of the slot 7, in the slide-plate 6. In this position the slot 21 in the locking-bolt 5 is disclosed to view and rendered accessible, and it :is easy to insert therein the `edge 22, of a shipping-tag 23, which should be provided with` an opening of any preferred form, such, for example, as that shown at 24, in Fig. 6. The narrow portion 'of the tag lying between said opening and the outer edge, will readily pass into the slot 20, and isdrawn toward the end of the locking-bolt, and away from the entrance-- slot 21. The locking-bolt 5, and the slideplate 6, are nowretracted until that portion of the former containing the entrance-slot 21, is drawn into the staple 3, thereby securely llocking the shipping-tag within the exposed portion'of the slot 20. Upon reaching this position the prolonged, flattened portion 15, of` the head 1/1 of the locking-bolt 13 is drawn oi the depressed portion 10 of the lockingplate 6, whereupon the locking-pin, thus released, is pushed inward until its head reaches the boss 12, or nearly so, whereupon the springprojected detent, or bolt 18, snaps into the notch 17, in the locking-pin, thereby preventing movement in either direction, rotary movement being impossible by reason of lthe prolonged, flattened portion 15 of the head of the pin, which lies now within the slot 7, of the slide-plate 6. For this reason, also, the

locking-bolt cannot be projected to uncover the entrance-slot 21, and permit the removal of the shipping-tag, since the end of the {iattened portion 15, of the head of the pin 13 abuts against the end of the slot 7, in the slide-plate, which can only be retracted by rupturing the tag and removing it from the slot 20. When the lock is opened in this manner, the slide-plate and locking-bolt are retracted until the latter is withdrawn from the staple 3. A partial rotary movement is then given upon the locking-pin as an axis, said pin being compelled to turn with the lockingplate by reason ot' the prolonged, flattened portion 15, of its head 111, which lies in the slot 7, of said slide-plate. This partial revolution forces the detent, or bolt 18, out of the notch 17 in the locking-pin and thereby permits the latter to be moved longitudinally in the boss 12.

I may use different patterns, or forms of shipping or other tags with this invention, and said tags may be made of any suitable material, as a great capacity of resistance' to a strain calculated to rupture the tag is by no means an essential requisite. I prefer, however, to employ the tag lshown in Fig; 6, of the drawings, whichis substantially that patented to me upon the 14th day of June, 1887, No; 365,029.' y

The several parts of the seal-lock nl ay be manufactured frolnauy suitable metal by casting, or partly by casting and partly by forging in suitable dies, or otherwise. I may also, employ more than one `kind of metal in constructing said parts and the several details of construction may be varied, or modified, without in any manner `departing from the principle of my invention; I consider it preferable,in all cases, though not absolutely necessary, that the locking-pin, or spindle 13 should be automatically projected, or driven outward, by merely turning the lockinglbolt 6 upon, and with, the said lockingpin, for the purpose of releasing the head 14 ofthe locking-pin from the upper endof the Slotr7. For this purpose I have devised the construction shown in Figs. 7, 8 and 9, in which all the parts are of the same general `form and arrangement already described; with the following exceptions: th'e diameter of the boss 12, measured in the longitudinal line' of the base-plate 1, is substantially equal to the width of the slide-plate 6, as shown in Fig. 8, but its transverse diameter is so much less than the width of the slide-plate that the boss is enabled to enter and liebetween the rearwardly projecting marginal ribs 6a, formed upon the slide-plate, when the latter is tlirnd into substantial parallelism with the baseplate, as shown in Figs. 7 and 9. The upper and longer edges of the boss 12, which lie a`djacent to the longer sides of the base-'plate 1, are cut away from points near the median longitudinal line to the transverse diametri cal line of the boss 12, thereby forming opposite edges 12a, which have a maximum outward projection from the base-plate at and near the central longitudinal line of the boss. From these two points said edges approach the base-plate at a small angle of inclination until they vanish, or nearly so, upon reaching the transverse diameter of the boss, thereby providing the outer end of the boss with a cam or cam-shaped face. When the seal 23` is removed and the locking-bolt 5 is retracted until its end is withdrawn from the staple 3, the side-plate is turned in either direction in the manner already described, thereby causing the rearwardly projecting ribs 6a to ride upon the edges 12 of the boss, in the manner shown in Fig. 3, the detent 18 having been driven out of the notch in the lockingpin 13 as the latter begins to turn. The said locking-pin is thus projected, or driven out-l ward to its limit of movement, as seen in Fig. 8, and remains thus withdrawn until the locking-bolt is returned to its normal position and driven through the Staple 3 far enough to receive the seal 23, after which it is retracted to the position shown in Fig. 7 and the lockingpin 13 is driven inward by pressure upon its head 14.

What I claim is- 1. In a seal-lock, the combinationwith a slotted slide-plate provided with a lockingbolt, of a locking-pin having a prolonged head adapted to lie in the slot of the slide-plate and lock the bolt, said pin being capable of a longitudinal adjustment, and a spring-projected detent adapted to engage a notch insaid pin, substantially as described.

2. In a seal-lock, the combination of a baseplate, a lengthwise movable and axially rotatable locking-pin mounted in the base-plate, a slides-plate having a locking-bolt and movable lengthwise on the locking-pin but engaging the latter to turn or rotate it axially when said slide-plate is turned or rotated,and means for holding the locking-pin against lengthwise v movement when the parts are in locking position, substantially as described.

3. In a seal lock, the combination with a staple, of a locking-bolt forming part of a slottedfslide-plate and having a tag retaining slot and an entrance slot cut from its surface into said tag retaining slot, a longitudinally movable locking pin having a head prolonged and flattened in the direction of the slot in the slide-plate, to enable it to enter said slot When` the entrance-slot in the bolt is drawn into the staple, and a spring-projected detent lying in a recess in a boss in an aperture of which the locking pin is arranged, substantially as described.

4. In a seal-lock, the combination with a base-plate having a staple and provided with a boss havingits opposite, longer edges vapproaching said base-plate, of a slotted locking-bolt having rearwardly projectingmarginal ribs, and a locking-pin adjustable in the boss and having a prolonged head adapted to lie in the slot of the locking-bolt, substantially as described.

5. In a seal-lock, the combination with a base-plate having a staple 3 and a boss 12, of a slotted locking-bolt 6, having rearwardly proj ecting marginal ianges @blocking-pin 13 having a prolonged headv lying-in the slot of the locking-bolt, and means for automatically locking said pin, the boss 12 being provided with opposite longitudinal edgesl 12a upon which the rearwardly proj ecting marginal ribs of the'locking-bolt are adapted to ride when said bolt is turned, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT M. SULLY.

Witnesses:

ALEXANDER HAMILTON, M. B. IOOGBILL. 

